If you made a New Year’s resolution to get fit or take better care of your health this year, chances are you’ve already broken it. A new survey has revealed that one in three of us who make health-based resolutions give up on them by mid January. Over half of us think maintaining our resolve to lose weight or improve general fitness is harder to do than sticking to financial, professional or emotional resolutions. In fact, one in twenty people quit on the first day.

If you’ve bailed on your resolutions you’ve got two options: either sit around kicking yourself, or do something about it. That’s where celebrity fitness guru Nell McAndrew comes in. As if being a TV presenter, model, sportswoman and doting mum wasn’t enough, superfit Nell is also one of the country’s most sought-after personal trainers. Now, she’s offering her wholehearted support to a new initiative called ‘Fresh Start, Get on Track’ which aims to get us all to achieve our goals and feel great for 2009.

In the company of Jane Abbott from Benenden Healthcare, Nell is hosting our exclusive webchat in which she’ll be dispensing invaluable advice that’s guaranteed to get you re-motivated and feeling the benefits of easy-to-undertake health and fitness strategies right away. She’ll also be answering your questions in the live chat. So send in your queries, log on the chat, and prepare to feel fine in 2009.

Celebrity fitness guru Nell McAndrew joins us live online to discuss the ‘Fresh Start, Get on Track’ fitness campaign

For more information visit www.benuk.com

H: Jayne Constantinis, host
N: Nell McAndrew
J: Jane Abbott, Benenden Healthcare

H: Hello and welcome to the Healthcare Show, I’m Jayne Constantinis. Now, then, after a festive period full of indulgence and 2008 well and truly behind us, January’s traditionally the month when we all decide to be a bit healthier. Maybe you’re one of the millions of people who made a new year’s resolution to get fit, and take better care of your health. Well the chances are you've already broken it. A new study reveals that one in three of us who make such a resolution have given up by the middle of January. Well if that sounds like you, keep watching, because I’m delighted to be joined in the studio by fitness guru Nell McAndrew and Jane Abbott from Benenden Healthcare. Ladies, thank you very much for coming in to talk to us. And of course we’re live, so if you’ve got a question for either of our guests then type it in the box on your screen with your name of course, send it to us and we’ll get through as many as we can during the course of the show. So what’s this all about then – middle of January, and already a huge number of people have given up. What are they doing wrong?

N: Oh I know. I think maybe they maybe trying to put too much pressure on themselves, and maybe trying to make too much of a list of to-dos, you know – maybe it’s they want to stop smoking, cut down on the drinking, lose weight and get fitter. You know so maybe it’s just too much all at once. So maybe just, you know start by maybe, you know cutting down on your smoking and take it from there or you know – because you can actually improve your fitness, day-to-day by maybe walking more. Walk to the shops, walk to work, walk in the park. So that could actually tie-in quite nicely, but just maybe take two of those things of your list

H: Yes, yes

N: And concentrate on them, and get really well into the flow of it, and when you’re feeling really good about it maybe add some of the other bits

H: Yes. Unrealistic expectations, unrealistic goals. Were you surprised Jane by the results of the study?

J: Well I think we were, the reason we commissioned the study was because it was reported year on year that people don’t keep their resolutions going for very long, and I think we felt as a healthcare organisation that probably wasn’t true, that we wanted to believe that people did continue going to the gym or losing weight or not smoking. And then of course the work that we’ve done tells us the exact opposite of that, so as Nell said a third have stopped their resolutions by this point in January, and then two thirds by the end of February, so we don’t do very well

H: Yes

J: On resolutions at the moment

H: And it’s a difficult time of year as well isn’t it, you know it’s cold and miserable

N: Miserable yes, horrible weather, you know it could be financial situations, you know there’s so – I mean it is real doom and gloom I think. January is the worst month I think, after the build-up and the hype of Christmas, and you know, hopefully you’ve had a really nice time, and then suddenly it’s like back to reality with a –

H: Yes

N: Bump isn’t it?

H: Yes, yes

N: You know like back to work, and bills coming in

H: Yes. Take all the presents back to the shops

N: Yes standing in big queues in the shops, in the sales, and everybody’s like elbowing for space. Yes it’s really not a nice time of year

H: Yes. We – just talking of resolutions, we went out and did some vox pops - we went out on the street and asked, you know, a random selection of people what resolutions they’d made, and it was quite interesting the results – let’s have a little look

Video Footage

“My new year’s resolution is to read more”

“Get back on the bike and try and get fit again”

“To go to the gym a lot more, be a lot healthier”

“To learn a foreign language”

“Eat as much fruit and veg as I possibly can”

“To avoid microwave meals”

“To eat more superfoods”

“To save money this year”

“To be nicer to my fiancé. Otherwise he won’t marry me!”

“To give up smoking”

“I’m hoping to quit smoking, but I don’t want to use the word quit – let’s not label it”

“So this year my new year’s resolution is to quit smoking and unfortunately it’s not going very well....”

“I decided, ok, on the 1st January to give up smoking. So hopefully this time, you know is going to be the time”

“My new year’s resolution for 2009 is to get fit and healthy. Unfortunately it’s not really going to plan as I planned to go to an exercise class twice already and have failed miserably.”

“I kind of figure if I can do it in January which is the most depressing and coldest month of the year, then I should be able to keep it up in June when it’s nice and sunny”

“I haven’t made any new year resolutions because in the past I just kept breaking them so if I was to fulfil them it was better not to make any!”

“In the past I have set resolutions that haven’t been achievable, although I do stick to things normally. But I’m hoping that in ’09 I will achieve the ones that I’ve set”

H: It’s interesting isn’t it, because most of those were related to being healthier and fitter and so on, but they all make it sound such hard work, and so miserable. It’s all about giving stuff up isn’t it? It’s a pity we can’t turn it round and talk about the benefits more

N: Yes I mean the benefits of exercise, it’s just endless – it’s better for your mind. You know it’s as good for your mind as it is for your body. It will make you feel more, you know, happy in yourself, more positive, more confident. It will get your skin glowing and hopefully help keep you looking a bit younger! You know it’s just – it’s really, really good. I mean obviously you’re looking after your heart and you know the prevention of, you know, illness in the future – anything like that. You know if you’re looking after yourself now, and you know having a well-balanced diet, exercising regular, then hopefully you’ll have a happier and longer life

H: And Jane, what about – what age is it right to, or what age is it not right to begin some kind of a health program?

J: Well I think children at school should start with exercising, and I think we have a responsibility as parents as we’re the role models for the children and if we take on board exercising, and by that I think – the words that people were using, are things like quit, and give up – it’s about cutting down or starting gently and getting some motivation, and if we start exercising, we start eating healthily, we introduce healthy foods into our children’s diets, then it will become part of their normal way of living, and they’ll then set themselves up for the next generation

H: And then it isn’t such a big deal. I’m sure it’s about, isn’t it, as well – it’s fitting it in, into your normal lifestyle, not making it –

N: Yes or maybe swapping things, that’s quite a good word as well, you know so you can swap, you know, instead of having white bread you’re going to have your granary bread, and you know swapping you know your unhealthy snacks for like nuts and – you know, bits of fruit. If you’ve got things on hand you will tend to eat it. It’s usually, usually don’t eat for quite a few hours at a time and then you just think oh I need that real instant boost, and you just grab for the chocolate bar and you know, hope it’s going to do the trick, and you know limit teas and coffees. You know it’s really simple things, it’s just about if you do them all together, you know all the really easy to fit into your lifestyle. And running, you know, get – I’ve got a running pushchair, so I run to playgroup, I run to the supermarket, and you know in fact that’s my only way of fitting it into my life usually when there’s just me and my son. So it’s – it’s just about being more realistic as well, maybe thinking of it as a 20 minute or 30 minute exercise slot rather than an hour, and then you feel like you can actually fit it into your day

H: I think you’re into something here – onto something here with this swapping and cutting down rather than making it so cut and draconian. There is something about the word “diet” as well isn’t there – the minute you think you’re on a diet, you want the things that actually you weren’t bothered about in the first place

N: That’s it –

H: It’s crazy isn’t it?

N: If you know you’ve got to cut something out, you just want it, you crave it. You want that chocolate so bad, you will run out in the – I mean people – it’s funny people will say oh I can’t run, I can’t walk, but they will run or walk to the shop when they’re desperately in need of the chocolate fix on a night in front of the TV

H: Yes

N: You know, I’ve done it myself, in the rain

H: Yes

N: But it is, it’s true, you know you’ve got to just think that if you’re eating more sensibly, you feel better, you have more energy

H: What are the other health benefits to having a healthier lifestyle?

J: Well I think the primary thing is about the general well-being, and sense of well-being that you have about you. I do think – I just want to add from what Nell was saying then is I think people often associate getting fit and eating healthily with the fact that it’s more expensive, and things like going for a walk – it’s free. Going to your park – it’s free. Grow your own vegetables for example in your garden, you don’t need a massive garden just to grow simple, healthy foods, and the joy of being able to go out, pick the food and then eat it –that’s the sort of thing that we need to be encouraging people to do. Keep it quick, keep it cheap and keep it simple, and that leads to a healthy lifestyle

H: Let’s take our first question, we’ve got loads of questions in from Mel this one, who says “I joined the gym with a friend in the hope of losing a little weight, together. She’s since found a boyfriend – traitor – and the cold weather has arrived. I’m finding it hard to get motivated. Help!”

N: I mean she could join the local running club or walking club, things like that, I mean I still go, I’m still a member of my running club, even though I actually don’t go at the moment, but it’s just – I’m hoping to go back one day

H: But it’s motivation at the heart of it –

N: That’s it

H: That’s the question, isn’t it, how do you drag yourself out of the house on a dark, winter’s evening when it’s raining?

N: Unfortunately – you’re not going to shrink, you’ll be ok! But yes it’s just a case of, I think even maybe if she’s got other friends that are interesting in meeting up, instead of meeting them at the pub for a glass of wine, meet up, have a really good chat and go for a nice walk and finish off at a café and have a nice coffee or something, you know and just sort of think of it in a different way. And make it – so it can be a sociable thing, it doesn’t have to be just you on your own, you know, in pain, it can actually be quite enjoyable. And once you get started I think you do, it’s an addition, you know all the hormones kick in, and it’s brilliant. It’s addictive

H: And that – it’s remembering how good you’re going to feel afterwards, isn’t it?

N: Yes

H: And we’ve all had those moments when we open the door and think oh no, I just, I’m going to sit and watch telly instead. But then on the way home you’ve got a spring in your step as you say, the skin is glowing. But it’s remembering that isn’t it?

N: Yes, yes it is

J: And I think that’s one of the reasons we’ve launched the website, because we hope that that individual hasn’t got a friend, but actually the website could be the companion, it could give you the healthy tips and point you in the right direction and help with your lifestyle generally, so it doesn’t have to be a person that’s the companion

H: No

J: It could be the dog, go and walk the dog, that’s another option. So there are plenty of ways out there that you can have companionship. It doesn’t necessarily have to be a person

H: And hopefully the friend will dump the boyfriend and then she’ll be back at the gym! Charlotte’s sent us a question – “I know I’ve got to firm up for my man – but I don’t want to end up looking like a Gladiator. What sort of exercises would work for me?”

N: Well I think it’s about trying different things. I mean it may be that swimming works for her then because she doesn’t want to, you know, do too many weights, but I think also with weights again there’s a, there’s a myth that people think oh they’ll turn into Arnold Schwarzenegger and be super muscly, but if they do light weights and lots of repetitions then they’re just going to tone up, because it is important to keep doing some kind of resistance training to help in future years you know with the onset of osteoporosis, of keeping – you’re kind of, you’re fighting the ageing process really, and by keeping more toned and strong, that will really help

H: That’s what they told me at the gym the other day, that I have to do more resistance for the bone density. That’s true is it?

N: Yes, yes

H: That’s really interesting, I didn’t know that

N: Yes it’s really important to keep up your strength and the tone, and you’ll feel so much better. So yes stick at it

H: Light weights and more repetitions

N: Yes so you don’t have to be – you know aaah

H: Like you see those blokes at the gym, yes

N: Body pump classes are brilliant, they’re really good. And then you’ve got everybody in the class together all doing different weights really. You put the weights on to suit you and you can also increase the weight if you want the week after. If you felt it was a bit too easy but yes there’s lots of different things

H: There’s another interesting sort of sub-text to that question as well Jane – I need to tone up for my man. Don’t you think?

J: Well I think that’s an interesting comment because I think actually anything that you’re doing it’s got to be for yourself, because actually if you’re the one whose going to be going through, it will be a little bit of pain to get yourself fit, but actually you’ve got to want to do it because otherwise this is why I think the resolutions are often broken. You do it for a short term, your heart’s not really in it so you’re not completely committed and that’s why sometimes you then stray away. You’ve got to set the date, the date that’s right for you. Pick a special date of your life, and then start doing some of these things. But actually you’ve got to want to do it

H: And of course it is so brilliant for self-esteem, because the way you feel about yourself and your confidence and everything, it’s – a lot of it is about the energy that you get from feeling a little bit fitter isn’t it?

N: Yes definitely. I mean if I go for a run I feel like a different person when I come back, I feel like I’ve got more energy, I’m happier. You enjoy your food more because you build up a better – you know, you’ve got a really good appetite, and you really enjoy everything because you’re so hungry, you know you’ve worked up a sweat. But I think also people want a quick fix, and I think it’s important to remember that it could take time to reach your goal, you know I’m due to start my training for the London marathon this week, and you now I mean that’s like 3 months away

H: Wow

N: And it’s just thinking – I’m having to tell myself, you must start this week, you must start – but I’ve got that goal at the end of it so I know that I’ve really got to try now to get stuck in there, and it might be that somebody thinks right I want to register to do a 5k walk for Cancer Research UK and they want to raise money for charity and get fit at the same time, and you can do that with your friends and your children even, you know it’s a fantastic event

H: I wonder if there isn’t something in the fallout ray that we’ve been talking about – two weeks in – that people are looking for that quick fix. They’re thinking right I’ll start in January, I’ll be done by February. And actually they haven’t noticed the change in the body. But what we should be really looking for are changes in our life forever shouldn’t we? As you were saying, just walking a bit more or –

J: It’s about re-educating yourself, and to change your lifestyle. Just because you’re doing some exercise on a regular basis, that’s not going to completely transform your body shape and how you’re feeling. One thing I would say is remember you use many more muscles to smile than you do to frown – and if you’re feeling happier and you’re feeling healthy then you’re going to smile a lot more and that immediately makes you feel better. It’s the feel-good factor

H: Yes. And makes you more attractive, if that’s one of your objectives. Laura has sent us a question, she’s often thought of getting a personal trainer, but would that be the best thing? She wants to lose the love handles but can’t really afford it at the moment. Any thoughts? We’ve got two things there, we’ve got the cost and specifically love handles

N: Well I mean I think, you know maybe just save your money for now and just get out, just get out walking and jogging first of all, just to get your motivation up a little bit to just lose a little bit of – if it’s just a few pounds just to try and feel the benefits already and then when you feel you’re definitely going to stick to it, then maybe invest your money in a personal trainer. I just think, because for now I think they’re going to tell you that you must lose a bit of fat probably. So it will be a case of doing aerobic, some form of aerobic exercise. So really she could do that now herself. You know, just run, find a little loop that’s maybe on the streets, well lit on a night so that she’s safe, or join the local running club maybe. And you make sure that you just do a loop that maybe takes 20 minutes, maximum, and if she can manage that then from then on, then look into personal trainers and you know, progressing it. But just get that, you know get started first I think

H: Ok. So for love handles it’s the aerobic exercise?

N: Yes I think aerobic exercise and then you can, and then tone up from there, because then they’ll be able to teach specific exercises to combat the – each area, but you really need to get into your aerobic exercises first and you know drop a little bit of body fat to get to the muscles

H: Ok, great. We’ll come back to the cost issue in a minute, but I just want to get Tony’s question in – specifically for you Jane. “Being that you come from a healthcare organisation, do you have any plans for promoting a healthier working environment for your staff and / or local community?” Interesting.

J: Well I think often in healthcare organisations your focus is on people who aren’t healthy, they aren’t well, and that’s one of the reasons we commissioned this work, we’ve launched the website and certainly we’re going to be doing things with our staff. We do have tennis courts at our hospital, we have a swimming pool, we have a little gym, and it sounds lovely, but of course even for staff, the actual taking the step at the end of the day to go and use the facilities, is still – still needs our encouragement and motivation. But I think we do try and encourage people to be fit and healthy. We’ve looked at the menus we offer people on a daily basis and looked for healthy alternatives, so we are trying, but it isn’t easy and actually it’s a two-way process, we as an employer can offer certain benefits, the member of staff have then got to take those benefits up and make the most of them

H: I think we as a society have got into a pretty unhealthy way of working, haven’t we? There’s this sort of feeling that you can’t ever leave your desk, because then you’re perceived to be a slacker and taking – snacking at your desk, and sandwiches in front of your computer and all that. That’s not healthy is it?

J: No it isn’t, I think you’re absolutely right and I think I’m probably as guilty of that as many other people, I have to be honest. Having lunch today was a real treat. But I think that you know the managers etc have got to take lead by example rally, and encourage their staff, and for most of us, our day shouldn’t be so busy that we can’t just go away, even if it’s only for a few minutes, and just to get some fresh air for example

H: Yes. Yes. And good for brain activity as you said right at the beginning

J: Yes. Absolutely

H: Oxygen to the brain, makes us think more clearly and sharply and all that. Deep breathing, deep breathing. Selina has said “I only really get my weekends free. Is running a couple of miles on a Sunday really going to make much difference to my health and fitness?” Now what do you think?

N: I think so because once she does that on a Sunday morning, she’ll want more, definitely. And as I said before I think it’s a case of really – look at an event that you’d really quite like to do, a distance, whether it’s 5k, 10k, marathon – whichever really suits you. Put your name down for it and be part of something special, a really special event where you feel a real sense of achievement. Because once you’ve finished one, I can guarantee you’ll want to do another one. It might not be that you want to take it further in the distance, but you will want to do another one, and you’ll be telling your friends about it, and it can be a really, really good experience and I think once you start going down that route it really encourages you to change everything else, whether it’s your eating habits, you know your overall exercise habits of you know walking up the stairs instead of taking the lift

H: Yes

N: Just simple little things, you know, when you’re doing the housework even, you can work up a real good sweat

H: Yes

N: You know –

H: You do the Shake ‘n’ Vac and put the freshness back!

N: But it’s amazing you know, you haven’t got very long, and you tend to – you’re rushing all day long really, gardening, you know that’s possibly lots more calories than playing a round of golf apparently so –

H: And we’ve talked a lot about exercise, but nutrition is as important isn’t it? The two should go hand in hand

J: Absolutely, exercising and the diet have got to go hand in hand and I think you can eat very healthily, and it goes back to what I was saying earlier about growing your own produce, eat plenty of fruit, eat plenty of vegetables. Salads, this time of year when people are turning to things like casseroles, they can be incredibly nutritious, very healthy –

H: And filling

J: And very warming. Absolutely

H: You don’t need to be hungry do you when you’re eating well?

J: So you don’t need to turn to the pudding then, get the main course in and make it very healthy

N: I think it’s really important to make sure you do eat properly if you are exercising as well, because some people want to do a short cut and they want to exercise, they cut out the meals, and before you know it, I’ve been in an exercise class where somebody’s passed out and fainted, and it’s because they’ve come straight from work, and they’ve not had any tea, so just, if they’d have grabbed a banana or just something, you know before, you’ve just got to be really sensible with it and remember that what you’re putting in your body, you know it’s the fuel for your body and it’ll never work properly if you’re putting rubbish in your body. So –

H: Yes I always say to my daughter, it’s like a car, it needs fuel, you’ve got to feed it otherwise it won’t go.

N: yes it’s not healthy to starve yourself. I mean once you start starving yourself then you know you neglecting your body of lots of different things, and before you know it you can have failure of different systems in your body, and it will – it’s the long term damage I think that – there’s not very much focus on, even with the documentaries that they make when people try and be a size zero in a short space of time. I mean the long term effect is really, it’s really bad, so it’s –

H: And it doesn’t look nice, either, does it? Much better to look healthy

J: But I was also going to say that I think an occasional treat doesn’t hurt. It’s not a sign of failure, you know – actually having the occasional treat gives you the incentive to keep going again, so give yourselves rewards, there’s nothing wrong with that, that’s what we do with our children often, so reward yourself as well

H: Ok I’m going to put you on the spot, each of you. Now I want you to give me please three really simple, easy things that we can change in our life to make us healthier, and that we can stick to for more than two weeks. And then I want you to do the same with food please

N: Ok

H: You can do food as well if you like

N: Ok – well definitely walking. I think it’s really overlooked. There’s so many different places you could walk to, whether it’s the shops, the park, couple of stops, getting off the bus a couple of stops earlier and walking to work, anything. Walk up the steps. And every time you do sort of think that you’ve done a really good job. And also I think that it’s important to, you know cut down on tea and coffee. Things like that that are giving you a real high and then a real low

H: Ok

N: You know just limit it – don’t cut it out, you know have one or two, but that’s it, the maximum. And also I think to just drink more water, because sometimes you feel a real energy drop because you’re dehydrated

H: Right

N: So it’s really important to drink more water

H: Ok. We can all do those three things, easy peasy

N: Easily

H: We can start today, can’t we?

N: And cheap

H: And cheap! Jane, what are your three top tips?

J: I was going to pick up about changing your bread, so go from white bread to wholemeal or granary bread, so that’s an easy step to do. Cut down on the sugary drinks that you have so you cut down on the fizzy pops because they’re not necessary – they do, again they give you the high and the lows, and I think the other thing I would say is cut down on the salt, salt is added to much of what we eat, so don’t sit there at the table adding loads and loads more

H: Ok

J: Again that’s not good for your blood pressure

H: Again, three things that we can all achieve very easily. Fantastic. It’s been really fascinating, we could go on forever couldn’t we, it’s really interesting stuff. Thank you very much

N: Thank you

J: Thank you

H: And if you’d like more top tips and lots of advice on a whole range of healthcare issues, go to the website which is www.benuk.com. Thanks very much for joining us, I hope you found it as interesting as we have, see you again soon. Bye bye

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